She announced back in May that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time, following her first diagnosis 25 years ago.
And now, Olivia Newton-John has spoken up about the natural remedies she is using to help combat the disease.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, the grease star revealed that as well as undergoing photon radiation therapy she is also using cannabis – which is legal and easily obtained in her home state of California.
“I use medicinal cannabis, which is really important for pain and healing,” she says. “It’s a plant that has been maligned for so long, and has so many abilities to heal.”
The 68-year-old’s daughter Chloe Lattanzi owns a cannabis farm in Oregon, and Olivia says she will fight for it to be made legal in Australia, where medicinal use was allowed by the federal government earlier this year, but obtaining the necessary permission — as well as the cannabis itself — is still a long, complicated process.
“I will do what I can to encourage it,” she says. “It’s an important part of treatment, and it should be available. I use it for the pain and it’s also a medicinal thing to do — the research shows it’s really helpful.”
Olivia says she first started to feel pain in her lower back over a year ago, putting the discomfort down to sciatica, however an MRI scan revealed that the cancer she had beaten back in 1992 had returned, this time as metastatic cancer, meaning the cancer in her bone was the same cancer she had suffered originally.
“I kind of felt innately that something wasn’t right, this pain had been going on for a long time,” she told The Daily Telegraph.
“It wasn’t a total surprise, it wasn’t a total shock — probably not the same as the first time.”
Despite the diagnosis, Olivia is determined to remain positive – rather than continue to talk about her diagnosis, the Aussie star says she prefers to let her husband John Easterling – an expert on medicinal herbs from the Amazon – inform people on her behalf.
“My husband has talked to my friends and explained what’s going on,” she says. “I need to focus on being around and being healthy.”
“People send me letters, just the most beautiful well wishes and prayers and love,” she said. “I want them to know that the prayers have worked, and thank you.”
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